Jessica Yeaton smashes record to become 50km American Birkebeiner Champion

Jessica Yeaton has smashed the previous women’s record by nearly three minutes to become the 2020 American Birkebeiner 50km champion.

The PyeongChang Olympian set a new record of 2:31:20, finishing an impressive 41.7 seconds in front of five-time Finnish Olympian Riitta-Liisa Roponen.

The American Birkebeiner in Wisconsin is largest ski marathon in North America and part of the Worldloppet series of international ski races. This is the second* time ever an Australian has won a Wordloppet event in the northern hemisphere.

The 28-year-old who hails originally from Western Australia said she headed into the race with no expectations and was ecstatic with the final result.

“I wasn’t sure how I’d go having not raced in a while, but I’d been training really well – although I had absolutely not planned on winning,” Yeaton said.

“It was an awesome race – I’d heard from many people about how amazing of a scene it is and I’ve always wanted to go,” she said.

“It lived up to every story I’d heard – it was an amazing experience.”

Yeaton said she could not have imagined a more perfect day, with bluebird conditions topped off with the gold medal.

“The skiing was perfect and the conditions were literally incredible,” Yeaton said.

“But just being in that environment where everyone is psyched on Nordic skiing was an amazing experience, you don’t get that everywhere.”

Yeaton returned immediately after the event to Albuquerque and a week of exams at the University of New Mexico where she is studying Physical Therapy.

*Correction: Belinda Phillips was the first Australian to win a Worldloppet Race in the Northern Hemisphere, winning the Sapporo Ski Marathon by a margin of 4 1/2 minutes in 2010.